I began writing for Forbes in 2010. It was just as the economy was starting to perk up and a fascinating time to cover the stock market, which I did for three months until I switched beats in September 2010. Now I contribute to the Leadership channel, with a focus on jobs and careers–-another hot topic in a time when people are vigorously hunting for jobs or desperately trying to hold on to the ones they have. I have a BA from the University of Arizona and a master's degree in journalism from Hofstra University. Follow me on Twitter @JacquelynVSmith, subscribe to me on Google+, or email me at jsmith [at] forbes [dot] com.

14 Things You Should Do On Your Lunch Break Every Day

Enjoy your food. Lunch should be about having lunch, Woodward says. “Treat yourself to something you enjoy that fits with your diet,” he adds. “If you have a favorite place or a particular food you enjoy make sure to go and enjoy it at least once a week. You only live once.”

It’s OK to splurge from time to time—but try to stick to healthy meals as often as possible.

Do what you can’t do in the morning or evening. Some errands—like going to the Post Office or the bank—must be handled during work hours. “Be strategic and use your lunch break to accomplish some of those personal errands that can’t be handled before or after work, or on the weekends,” Taylor says.

But be careful that you don’t cram too many personal errands into your lunch break, Kerr warns. “You’d just end up swapping one stress for another kind of stress without getting the re-energizing benefits a good break can offer.”

Use the time to connect with someone new. “I used to work in an office of 3,000 people, so it was pretty much the norm to not recognize most everyone in the elevator,” Woodward says. “Our workplace interactions can be so fleeting that we really never actually get to know the people we spend most of our days with. When you don’t really know those you interact with it’s easy to dehumanize them and take them for granted. Take some time to get out of the office, grab a sit down lunch, and get to know your co-workers.”

Catch up with old friends. If you have a friend who works nearby, try to meet him or her during lunch occasionally. “Remember, your personal life needs tending to just as much as your work-life, so be sure to take the spare time you have and use it to fulfill your personal needs,” Woodward says. Your midday break is a good opportunity to catch up and socialize, in person or by phone—but don’t lose track of time, and don’t treat it like happy hour.

Have a system for dealing with your absence. This will allow people inside and outside the company to know when you will be back, how to contact you in an emergency or have an alternative point of contact, says David Shindler, author of Learning to Leap and founder of social learning site, The Employability Hub. It may also help you relax and avoid obsessively checking your e-mail during lunch.

Engage in activities that will help you re-energize. Take a walk outside, visit the gym or meditate. Get out and do something that will make you feel better about yourself. “A quick dose of sunlight and fresh air is the perfect elixir for the midday blues,” Woodward says.

Network. Even if you’re perfectly happy in your job, and you’re not looking for a new one, it can’t hurt to continuously build and maintain your professional network. “This is critical to success in any line of work,” Woodward says. “However, finding the time to connect with those in your network can be tough.”

Attridge adds, “Strategically, lunch is an excellent time to continue to build relationships and network with others whether that is by having lunch with them or calling them to catch up.”

Don’t get stuck in a routine. Many of us are creatures of habit. Maybe you go to the same pizzeria everyday or eat with the same colleague. You might always use your lunch break to run errands or make personal calls. Try to mix things up in order to clear your head and boost your energy.

Avoid all screens. Try to stay away from your iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and computer.“Give your eyes a break,” Taylor says. Most office jobs require you to stare at a screen all day—so try to avoid that during lunch.

If you can’t help it for whatever reason (maybe you want to shop online or e-mail a friend), get up from your desk so your body perceives this as a true break, Levit adds.

Don’t take too long or too short of a break. If you’re allotted an hour for lunch, take it. Maybe not every day, but when you can, use the full sixty minutes to get out, eat, exercise your mind or body, catch up with an old friend or a colleague and/or tackle items on your personal agenda.

However, if everyone else in the office takes shorter breaks, follow suit so you don’t stand out.

“Don’t take breaks that are too long or too frequent, as people will start to notice,” Levit says. “And don’t pressure colleagues to adhere to your break schedule. You are primarily there to work–not socialize–so let them do what works best for them.”

“You have the ability to make your lunch hour an invigorating boost to your afternoon by doing what you enjoy; be it a brisk walk listening to music, talking with a close friend, being in nature, even if briefly, or spending time on your favorite project or pastime,” Taylor concludes. “It’s your time to refresh.”

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This describes “workaholic” me precisely: “Don’t try to be a hero and starve yourself for the sake of being a hard worker or checking off another “to-do” item, Taylor says. “You’ll pay for it later when you can’t concentrate and throw your body off balance. If you’ve earned a headache or are lightheaded at 4 p.m., you haven’t ultimately gained anything.”

I’ve made this mistake over and over again – work through lunch, energy and concentration goes down, and either I end up working late or nothing productive gets done. Thanks for reminding us all that health comes first.

Call it intentionality, mindfulness or whatever you like, I appreciate the underlying these of not letting the manner in which you spend that “hour” be the outcome of other pressures. The advice of experts is best received as prompts for the occasional reappraisal of what one has concluded as a result of getting to know one’s own rhythms.

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Often noon feel tired most of the time, the more sleep the more tired, mostly because of the body on the tired, so we want to take full advantage of the lunch time conscious to do in line with their own interests and hobbies, a short break, drinktea, will look at books, release the soul, flying soul, go Lifestyle nuances, so our “tired” and would not tired—-iconqueror（人，往往中午感觉到累，大多时候，越睡越累，大都是因为躯体上的累，所以我们要充分利用“午饭的时间”，有意识的去做些符合自己兴趣爱好、休息片刻、喝喝茶、看会书籍，释放心灵，放飞心灵，去品味生活的细微之处，这样我们的“累”也就不会累了）

I agree with Lynn Taylor that time is a “non-renewable resource” and should be used wisely. I may not choose to include all of those “14 things” but I certainly never let a lunch break just slip through my fingers.

Thanks for this article reminding that having a healthy and balanced life starts by having a correct lunch! It is also indeed a great way to maintain a good network within one company, informal contact can be great source of information too!

Incredible post. It’s such a big deal to take these kinds of breaks. I do frequently. I meditate, do a lot of break taking, and a lot of recharging. It took me a while to get out of the American conditioning that work work work = results and into the mode of work + renewal = better output and better cognitive capacity, to create better results. Now, I’m here! And it rocks. Loved the read.

Ideally our lunch time should be just for lunch and relaxation but too many times we find ourselves running errands or making doctor appointments (job interviews) just to avoid interfering with our job. Then we wonder why we end up stressed and in the hospital. Our body was not made for the “rat race” we now seem to be living – squeezing in all the activity we can before finally crashing for what some call sleep. Bottom line, if we don’t go back to using our lunch times for lunch with the occasional errand – we are not going to make it into our old age. My favorite lunch time – by myself away from the office, maybe by a pond. No driving, maybe a few steps. Yes, it does make me a better employee and a nicer person when I finally make it back home. Career Counseling

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